Run in What You Love

If you know me, you know I love to run. I haven't always loved running, but I've been at it for over 20 years now and I think I'm finally hitting my stride.

Last month I set a PR (personal record) at a local half-marathon race, the Super Jock n' Jill half marathon in Woodinville. I hadn't trained for this race, so the victory was all the more surprising. My time was 1:45:48. What excited me most was the mere possibility that if I could do this again and double my distance, I'd easily qualify for Boston. That said, I don't know if I could keep that pace for another 13.1 miles, especially on one of the local courses, because these are HILLY.

Anyway, in the "recovery area" of this last race I saw all the usual vendors and one new one: Oiselle Running. Now, I've never been a running gear or clothing junkie. I usually run in one of the race shirts I've collected over the years, Asics running shoes, and running shorts from the REI outlet. But I will say that the Oiselle line was very impressive. At the time they were selling election running shirts (a novel idea) that said things like "Obama: The Kenyan Advantage" and "McCain: Not Bad for his Age Group" and I would have bought one in a second, if I had had cash on me. Their other running items looked remarkably comfortable and well-made, so I am already eyeing things online to put on my Christmas list. It's definitely a company worth checking out, and I expect we'll be seeing a lot more Oiselle products popping up at our favorite running stores in the next couple of years.